{"id":24033,"date":"2024-08-13T10:57:28","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T14:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24033"},"modified":"2024-08-13T11:23:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:23:01","slug":"24033","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24033","title":{"rendered":"Julian\u2019s Confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"It Is Well (Lyric Video) - Kristene DiMarco | You Make Me Brave\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Wb_WD1emFQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>James Finley names how the suffering of Julian\u2019s time resonates with that of our own:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Julian was keenly aware of the suffering of the world during her lifetime. It was the bubonic plague, a truly painful death that swept through and killed many, many people. She saw that. During this time, the Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered. During this time, the church had three popes and each pope excommunicated the other two popes. During this time, there was a hundred-year war with France. She was keenly aware of the suffering and the crisis of the world. Also, I\u2019m sure the people who came to the window of her anchorhold or hermitage to talk with her for spiritual direction unburdened on her their struggles, their fears, and so on.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think this is where Julian can be especially helpful to us\u2014because we\u2019re so aware of the traumatizing age that we live in, a time of political strife and contention, the brutalities of war, the violence of prejudice, and threats to the environment. We\u2019re sensitized to these things, so how do we then learn to be a healing presence in the midst of an all too often traumatized and traumatizing world? How can Julian\u2019s insight into the mystery of the cross as God\u2019s loving oneness with us help us to stay grounded and present in the midst of the suffering, and not be so easily thrown or overwhelmed by it in our ongoing sensitivity and response to it?&#8230;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the midst of our time, situation, and circumstances, <strong>in the deep down depths, there\u2019s a place deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper in this oneness with God\u2019s sustaining oneness with us.<\/strong>\u202f[1]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>English poet and author Ann Lewin points to the tenacity of Julian\u2019s confidence and hope:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll shall be well\u201d is one of Julian\u2019s best-known sayings, but we could be forgiven, perhaps, for responding, \u201cYou must be joking.\u201d How can anyone who is aware of the reality of life say that all will be well? Christians are sometimes guilty of offering the kind of facile comfort that says, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, things will be better tomorrow.\u201d Experience tells us that they may very well be worse. Julian lived at a time when there were many challenges to well-being, and she must have said \u201cAll shall be well\u201d through gritted teeth sometimes: <strong>she knew, as we do, that it is a struggle to hold on to that belief when there is so much around us to challenge it. <\/strong>[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lewin points to Julian\u2019s trust in God for encouragement:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><strong>[God] did not say: You will not be assailed, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted, but he said: You will not be overcome<\/strong>. God wants us to pay attention to his words and always to be strong in our certainty, in well-being and in woe, for <strong>he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him, and all will be well. <\/strong>[3]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>============================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Where the Wounded Are Welcomed<\/span><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=d79c5aea81&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=f46c9249d5&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\">Click Here for Audio<\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=7742ac7b0e&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"35\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\"><br>       While reclining at the table in Matthew\u2019s house, enjoying his dinner with the scum of the earth, Jesus noticed the Pharisees had arrived. These <strong>religious leaders, masters of image management, and experts in social demographics<\/strong> peered through Matthew\u2019s gate at the festivities in the courtyard. Imagine what they saw. A lavish house, a large table filled with food and drink, the courtyard stirring with obnoxious people dancing, smoking, and laughing\u2014behaving the way people do when good wine is abundant. And right in the middle of the revelry was Jesus, the notorious rabbi, reclining at the table and enjoying the party.The Pharisees were appalled. Calling one of Jesus\u2019 disciples to the gate, they inquired with a disgusted tone. \u201cWhy does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d But it was not a disciple who replied. Jesus found the question important enough to answer it himself. \u201cIt is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick,\u201d he said (Matthew 9:11-12). The Pharisees saw a rabbi defiling himself among sinners\u2014the enemies of God, but with his response, Jesus was trying to open their eyes to see something more. <strong>Not a rabbi among sinners, but a doctor healing the sick.<\/strong> Somehow, by <strong>simply sharing a table with Matthew and his ungodly friends, Jesus was bringing healing<\/strong>.The English word\u00a0<em>hospitality<\/em>\u00a0originates from the same Latin root as the word \u201chospital.\u201d A hospital is literally a \u201chome for strangers.\u201d Of course, it has come to mean a place of healing. There is a <strong>link between being welcomed and being healed,<\/strong> and the link is more than just etymological.<strong>When we are loved and accepted for who we really are, and welcomed into the life of another person without conditions, it brings healing to our souls<\/strong>. That is what Jesus did by sharing his table with sinners. And it <strong>is what his table still does when the church welcomes imperfect, even scandalous people to it.<\/strong>The love of the world is always conditional. Every stratum of our culture and every advertisement we encounter reminds us that our significance and acceptability are rooted in what we achieve, what we have, what we do, how we look, and how we perform. Our acceptability is always conditional, and every human soul carries the wounds of rejection from not meeting someone\u2019s standard. <strong>How terrible when that wound is inflicted by a parent, a spouse, a community, or a church. Rejection always leaves a wound\u2014not a visible one, but a cut in our souls whose scar we may carry for the remainder of our lives.<\/strong> It\u2019s at Christ\u2019s table, <strong>as we gather to remember his wounds, that we discover ours are welcomed as well.<\/strong><br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=a21c02d7f2&amp;e=f52fc38132\">MATTHEW 9:9-13<br>LUKE 22:14-20<\/a><br><br>WEEKLY PRAYERFrom Symeon Metaphrastes (900 &#8211; 987)<br><br>I am communing with fire. Of myself, I am but straw but, O miracle, I feel myself suddenly blazing like Moses\u2019 burning bush of old\u2026. You have given me your flesh as food. You who are a fire which consumes the unworthy, do not burn me, O my Creator, but rather slip into my members, into all my joints, into my loins and into my heart. Consume the thorns of all my sins, purify my soul, sanctify my heart, strengthen the tendons of my knees and my bones, illumine my five senses, and establish my wholly in your love.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Finley names how the suffering of Julian\u2019s time resonates with that of our own:&nbsp;&nbsp; Julian was keenly aware of the suffering of the world during her lifetime. It was the bubonic plague, a truly painful death that swept through and killed many, many people. She saw that. During this time, the Archbishop of Canterbury [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24033"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24039,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033\/revisions\/24039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}